HK 1978

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

I wouldn't go so far to say my experience lately has challenged my sense of mortality, yet, reading an article from Stuff today really gave me a shock.

It was about the rebuilt of Christchurch's Cathedral. Apparently Jim Anderton has been a fierce supporter of a rebuilt. Jim Anderton - a name that was so familiar to me, yet looking at his photo on the website, I struggled to remember who he is.

When it reads... "former deputy PM under Helen Clarke.." OH my GOSH. Of course, the "Progressive party", the only other "one man" party apart from Peter Dunn's United (Peter is not contesting in the general election in 2 weeks.., finally retiring as well).

So what was the shock? Well, how old does he look in the photo compared to when he was younger? The article went on to say he hasn't been "well" for a while, yes, it appears so indeed.

It's sad, to see how these "giants" back in those days are now so frail. It saddens me. Recently, my dad had the most terrible cough - I was concerned enough to get him an urgent CT chest. It only showed a bit of pneumonia. It brings me to the RUOK day - do ask your loved ones RUOK often.

Monday, August 14, 2017

Danielle passed her exams, altogether five exams in total. These exams have been like a cloud over our whole family's head in the last year and a half. What an achievement. Well done, very well done.It indeed marks the beginning of the end of her registrar journey. She deserves some sleep. Instead... she is battling with trying to get Jonathan to sleep while I try to do some work... the time is 10:58pm............

Monday, August 07, 2017

I'm working in the hospital library, there are five other people and most of them are probably undergrad or recent postgrad. I, in contract, graduated 15 years ago.When I was a student, the computer lab is full of Mac, not the kind of Mac that the other 5 people are using, but PowerPC. There was internet - just, but certainly no WiFi.I remember when Dell rules the laptop world, and how times have change. All 6 of us here in the library are typing away on Mac laptops - MacBook and MacBook Pro of varies vintages - all without the charging cable, showcasing the prowess of modern batteries. Danielle is having her final exams this Friday and Saturday. Completion of these exams mark the beginning of the end of her journey as a haematology registrar. PhD studies beckon and it's the end of an era.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

My mum told me I was sick all the time as a kid, we paid numerous visits to the doctor. Luckily, he was one of the more ethical ones and didn't prescribed tetracycline wily-nilly. I remembered at least 1/3 of my school friends had stained teeth - now a well known side effects of the notorious antibiotic.Now I'm a parent, and when you are faced with a kid that's under the weather - life is a pretty tough gig. They don't sleep well when they're sick, they can't/don't want to go to daycare. Well, life goes on. getting sick is part of life of a toddler - or as a human for that matter. For out of everyone I should know better. Knowing doesn't help alleviating the suffering however, just like most things.

Saturday, June 03, 2017

Dani sat 2 out of 5 of her exams last Saturday.. BYOM - bring your own microscope. Budding pathologists and haematopathologists from all over Victoria gathered in this histopathology lab at Monash Clayton. The path people sat through a 4 hour exams (? sore bottom) while the haematology folks got away with a 3 hour one. I tell you, people reckon neurologists are "smart", knowing what my wife has to know, I start to think people might actually be making a mockery of us neurologists....3 more exams to go, then PhD it is next year, for her that is. My boss asked when I'll be doing mine, well, it will come!

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Elisha turned two last weekend. What a milestone. Her big brother celebrated it in style - less than one minute of getting home, he toppled the box with the Peppa Pig cake inside, straight onto the floor. Peppa Pig cake no more.She was a bit under the weather too, so we didn't end up taking any decent photos!! Dani has her haematology exams in a few weeks. I'm sure we'll look back at this time of our life later on and realise this, in fact, was not all that hard. I've been told sleepless nights as parents are nothing, nothing when compare to having teenagers at home.We - shall - see.

Monday, March 13, 2017

This is not Elisha.. it's just a photo I got from the net. Elisha is turning 2 very soon, in May, and she's in the middle of a very bad flu. It's the usual story, she started going to this big daycare about 3 months ago, and for the past 3 weeks (feels much longer than that...), she has is constant runny nose. She probably did get better.. and then got sick again, poor thing.End result? I vomited all my lunch on Sunday, my mum was the same.. somehow she managed to kept her food in a little longer, needless to say, she suffered a bit longer too! My poor wife, has been running on 4 instead of 6 cylinders for a few weeks too.Well, E will grow stronger out of this. Just like her big brother Jonathan, the ONLY seemingly unaffected one in the family, thanks to exposure to two different daycares when he was at E's age!

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

My parents sold their house in Remuera today. They lived there from 1991 till now, a total of 26 years. Arguably the longest time my dad has stayed in any one place. It was our first and only home in NZ. It was renovated before we moved in, then again just before 2000.I'm not the most sentimental one in the family, but still, it was still a bit sad. I lived at home till I was married in 2009, a good 20 odd years of my life was spent in that house; secondary school, college, medical school, and, as a busy junior doctor. Heaps of memories, numerous parties, including my 21st parties, of course.My parents are more then ready to move on, however. The house, with 5 rooms, is now truely too big for them. My parents were in their early 40s, grandma, my sister (4), and me (13) when we moved in. Now, Margaret is working in HK, I'm in Melbourne, and, we lost grandma around 2005. I will be turning 40 myself soon!The house is ready for a new owner, a young family, like ours, back in the days.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

A few months ago I read how "La La Land" is going to make it big on BBC news - it was right and after watching it today, it did not disappoint.I will not even try to write a review here since there are tons of very well written ones online already, for example, here, here and here. The one thing on my mind at the end of the movie was that, it was very well done, and yes, I was upset by the ending - who wouldn't? Do we really have to let the realities of life trump our dreams? Did it make a mockery of the moment when the main characters looked each other in the eye and said "I'll always love you"? Is love really that fleeting? or can you love someone that deep down but end up marrying another person? I'm also very happy for the team that's behind La La Land. Their collective effort paid off, and it's a movie that is set to be one of the classics.